During sugar tests for Reactive Hypoglycemia, the test often induces hypoglycemia for me, which is much like a more lengthy partial seizure of epilepsy, though the Limbic sensations are not as nearly intense as during a Limbic seizure.
My occassional heart dysrhythmias are more shorter than epileptic seizures, with very brief loss of consciousness during heavy excerise (I stopped lifting heavy weights because they hit hard when I drop them during the brief loss).
The seizures of epilepsy I have usually meet the typical rule of "less than 5 minutes" for epileptic seizures, but without anti-epiletic medication, during strong clusters of seizures, another seizure can start before the previous one fully concludes, as in Status Epilepticus.
A couple of my favorite references for differentials are:
The differential for "Panic Disorder (panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, DSM-IV-TR #300.01, 300.21)" versus epilepsy, of:
"Simple partial seizures may occasionally be characterized by a panic attack. Clues to this diagnosis include not only the occurrence, at other times, of other seizure types (e.g., grand mal or complex partial) but also the exquisitely paroxysmal nature of the ictal panic attack: whereas panic attacks in panic disorder take minutes to crescendo, the ictal anxiety peaks within seconds. An EEG may or may not be helpful in such cases, as it may be normal even while the patient is having the seizure,":
http://www.brown.edu/Courses/BI_278/Oth ... /panic.pdf This seems like a good guide when Nonconvulsive status epilepticus is totally excluded.
The possibility of nonconvulsive status epilepticus frustrates many differentials. The book "Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus" By Peter W. Kaplan, Frank W. Drislane (2008), often has a preview of moderately "uncommon" confusions beyond the simpler differentials:
(preview often available at books-dot-google with the search "epilepsy Lyme seizures Kaplan Drislane") or:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=c ... nfusion%22http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=c ... rcinoid%22A book with many sections available at ncbi is "Imitators of Epilepsy" at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books?term= ... 20imitepil[book]
Tadzio
28 Feb 2012, 4:44 am
